


Old Bones, New Beginnings

by teicakes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comfort, Galra Keith (Voltron), Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 14:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13789995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teicakes/pseuds/teicakes
Summary: It was just a scouting mission, nothing else. That was what Kolivan reminded Keith as he had nearly tumbled to the ground getting into his suit, dressed and eyes shining with excitement as he stared up at the older Galra.They weren’t supposed to run into anything interesting. Least of all a face Keith can't help but feel like he isn't seeing for the first time.





	Old Bones, New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elen42564](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elen42564/gifts).



> Okay! So this is a pinch hit for Elen Helel for Sheith Secret Santa. I hope this is to your liking! Your wishlist was really small and broad and I didn't get a good sense of anything else you wanted when asking you on anon, so I decided to go for combining your request for Kuron and Galra Keith together! Enjoy!

It was just a scouting mission, nothing else. That was what Kolivan reminded Keith as he had nearly tumbled to the ground getting into his suit, dressed and eyes shining with excitement as he stared up at the older Galra. He was always kept indoors, out of Gamora missions or the likes for his ‘ _ protection _ ’ of all things, as if he couldn’t find himself in enough trouble at one of their bases. But he was finally hitting his growth spurt, sprouting like an Ombronian weed, and at last his guardians couldn’t tell him to stay sheltered any longer. He’d finally been brought along. 

It was little more of a rubble field, scraps of broken ship and bits of asteroids centered around a dense cloud of dust and rock. Just a check to make sure a previous mission had gone as planned. No Altean sentries, no wayward shipping routes. Just miles and miles of debris, and three tiny scanning units they had to pass over it to satisfy that crazy scientist Slav’s neurosis.

They weren’t supposed to run into anything interesting. 

Keith floated before a tiny pod. A pod, that by all means, should not have been here. Should not have been in this shape. 

Should hold an alien within it. 

Carefully he drifted closer, jets firing just enough for him to land and grip the tube to stare through the grimy glass. It was charred to hell and back, edges melted, fine dark soot obscuring most of the figure inside it. He’d only realized there’d been a person inside when his scanner had picked up a biorhythm. Keith scrubbed away some of the grime.

His breath caught. 

It was a person alright. Face smooth and pale with a moonlight-pale scar cutting across their nose. No Altean markings, he noted, scanning over the sharp cheekbones and shock of white hair. The ears were out of sight, hidden by the alien’s monochrome helmet. Keith cleaned away more, exposing the man’s neck and shoulders. Broad. Strong. But he kept coming back to that face. The way those lips parted open just so. The way his lashes rested on his still cheek. He felt like he’d seen this face somewhere before. Almost as if in a dream, or a stranger passed long ago. 

A beeping interrupted his thoughts. A red light blinked on the pod. 

_ Oxygen failure. 60 seconds remaining.  _

He was alive. 

But not for long. 

Keith bit his lip. He knew how Kolivan would react. Let alone the look of terror and disappointment in Thace’s face. That same look when he’d been caught stowing away on a deep cover recovery, the ship barely making it past the barricade. 

_ Thirty seconds _ , beeped the pod.

He really shouldn’t. He had no idea if this man was friend or foe, innocent or sleeper agent. The smart thing would be to leave him here, let him pass away peacefully like he would have if Keith’d never found him. It would have happened anyway. It wasn’t as if the universe was set on him surviving. 

But… that face. This feeling. 

_ Ten seconds.  _

_ Five.  _

_ Four. _

_ Three. _

Keith made his choice. The airlock of the pod hissed as he wrenched the crumbled door open, tugging the man from it’s depths and slinging him over his shoulder. It took some fiddling. The alien was larger than he’d though, making the work all the more slow and difficult. At last he extracted the emergency air pack from the pouch on his back and slipped the rebreather into the unconscious stranger’s mouth.  _ No sharp teeth _ , he noted. The man’s head lolled forward, still dead to the galaxy. Keith tried to right it, hoping that he hadn’t already expired. There was a pulse beating against the fingers that propped up his neck. 

_ Still alive _ . 

Keith swung him back over his shoulders. Getting him back to the ship would be tricky. He kept having to stop and adjust him, keeping his dangling limbs free of the vents of his jetpack. Holding him out in front wasn’t any better, it threw of Keith’s center balance even more. In the end he leapfrogged from debris to debris, using each landing as a chance to reorient himself. By the time he made it back to the ship, Kolivan and Antok had already returned. 

“What,” Kolivan spat, “is that?”

Keith avoided his leader’s gaze, tail tucked between his legs and ears flat against the back of his scalp. 

“I told you. This was just a scanning mission. On no orders were you supposed to turn it into a recovery, let alone, for that.” Kolivan was glaring daggers at him now, and Keith was glad for the weight of his capture on his shoulder, hiding some of himself from sight. “He’s clearly not one of ours, which makes him one of theirs. Did you even  _ think  _ Keith? He could easily have one of those… those…  _ things! _ He could be an Altean slave!”

Antok stared down sadly at Keith. He was the softer half to Kolivan, his great hulking form hiding and equally large heart inside it. Despite his lack of grace with words, he’d been one of Keith’s kindest sponsors, training him how to fight and sneak whenever he had time aboard the mother base to spare. When Kolivan told him off it was a superior officer disciplining him. When it was Antok it was an older brother or parent. 

“I’m sorry... “ he mumbled. “I thought… he doesn’t look Altean, he looks…” Keith stopped himself. He looked  _ what? Familiar? _ There was pathetically few free humans in the universe now, all either being Altean slaves or willing participants in the empire. Only a handful acknowledged the twisted logic of the ruling class and were brave enough to break from the status quo. Fewer still survived. The chances that this man’s face was anything less than a passing similarity to someone he’d seen in the background of propaganda broadcasts was nill. And yet Keith couldn’t still the feeling that he knew him, deep down. 

“Shall we check?”

Both Keith and Kolivan looked to Antok. The giant was pointing at the stranger’s helmet. 

“You have a point,” Kolivan sighed, and stepped towards Keith. The youngest took a step back without realizing it. “Keith,” Kolivan chided, “I’m simply checking for the device. If he has one we leave him here.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Keith asked. His throat felt dry, but he couldn’t place why. 

“We’ll see,” Kolivan said. A long clawed hand slid along the stranger’s jaw, searching for the release point. A click rang in Keith’s ears as Kolivan pressed a point just behind the human’s ears and the helmet slid free, leaving the man’s head to fall further onto Keith’s shoulder. 

His head was bare. Nothing but an expanse of black hair. Kolivan’s jaw set. Keith swallowed. 

“Now what?”

* * *

Keith had charged into Ulaz’s office as soon as they’d returned, Antok in tow with their new charge easily slung in one of his enormous arms. Despite Ulaz’s protests (and the mess of coffee now seeping through the papers on his desk, a product of his surprise), he’d agreed to look over their find. It had been well past a dozen doboshes since then and there was still no diagnosis from Ulaz. 

“Is he going to be okay?” 

Ulaz’s eyes narrowed as he continued to pass the health scanner up and down the human. The pale Galra had always been one of the better physicians in the Guns. Unlike Antok and Kolivan his skills fell more in the territory of sewing people together rather than slicing them to bits. Keith had seen the aftermath of his work on more than one occasion, members carried in on stretchers so beaten up he could hardly recognize them returned to themselves, even if the tired look in their eyes and cybernetic additions remained as the signs of scars they carried. He knew if there was anything wrong with this human, it would be Ulaz who could fix him. 

“It’s difficult to say.” Ulaz squinted at his scanner. “By all accounts, the damage he’s suffered is nothing he cannot recover from. There is bruising throughout his body and a few cracked ribs. There are some minor burns on his legs as well. I appears whatever he went through there was more than its share of heat and his vessel wasn’t equipped for it.”

“But you can fix all that. It’s nothing for you!”

The doctor looked up from his screen at Keith. “That may be true, but that doesn’t mean he is otherwise normal by any account.”

“What…?” Keith started, but was interrupted by the rush of the exam room doors opening. Kolivan strode in, Thace following at his side. As soon as he caught sight of Keith he rushed to him. 

“Keith! Are you alright? Kolivan told me everything.” His father pressed Keith’s face into his neck, letting himself scent his son and rub soothing circles up  and down his back. If this had been a mission with real danger he might have enjoyed it. Right now it only made him feel more like a child. Still, he could never blame Thace for this. After losing his partner -  _ Keith’s mother _ \- it was only natural he would protect the only family he had left. Keith returned the hug, butting his nose against both of his dad’s ears until he seemed to relax. 

“I’m fine, really. S’nothing dad.” He pulled back to give Thace a smile. “Nothing happened to me. I just… found something interesting, that’s all.”

Kolivan cleared his throat and the two of them both jumped to attention. “Ulaz, anything to report?”

The physician nodded. “His vitals are stable, albeit somewhat weak right now. There is no evidence of an Altean implant. Even his mechanical arm does not appear to be Altean in origin. It’s something else… it appears to run on quintessence.”

Thace and Kolivan gave each other worried looks. 

“How is that possible? All research and work with quintessence have been banned since the rule of the first Empress. No one but the highest ranking of Alteans would even have access to the knowledge, let alone access to stores of it.” Thace shook his head. “By all accounts… he can be nothing else than a spy.”

“And that’s just where it starts.”

The rest of the Galra gathering all stared at Ulaz in disbelief.

“W-what are you talking about, friend?” Kolivan coughed.

“You recall the mission of team VL-84? Slav and Sven? The destruction of that wormhole and the ship within it?”

“Well… yes…” Kolivan balked. “We were scouting the wreckage today to ensure the hole had closed for good. Nothing was out of the ordinary, all signals had decayed to nearly background levels.”

“Not all of them.” Ulaz pulled a chart from his device and projected it between the five of them. “This human is emitting signals far higher than anything else you examined. It’s at levels almost mirroring Sven when he returned to base for exam. _Ten vargas_ _after they sealed the portal._ ”

“He… he… there was another opening,” Kolivan whispered. “ _ Recently _ .”

Ulaz nodded. “There doesn’t seem to be any other explanation.”

Their team leader straightened up, the look of shock wiped from his face. Keith felt a tingle travel up his spin as his golden eyes turned sharp. “Prepare the human for questioning. We need to get to the bottom of this as soon as he wakes.”

This was definitely not going as Keith had thought. The others filed out, leaving him and Ulaz alone with the unconscious human, distressed whispering kept low so as not to be picked up by his young ears, but it didn’t matter. Keith wasn’t even listening. Instead he was focused on the human’s face. 

Somehow,  _ he knew  _ this one was safe, that he was harmless, but everything pointed otherwise. It was this feeling that refused to leave him, as if in another life they’d connected, that this man had saved his life. 

A hand was in his hair, mussing his ears and fur until it stood on end in more directions than he had names for. Ulaz smiled at him, drink pouch in hand. Keith took it with silent thanks. 

“You’re welcome to stay as I work on him Keith. All I ask is that you help where I need you.”

The young galra kneaded the drink between his fingers. It was a kind offer… but not necessary. He’d more than likely just be in the way as Ulaz set about mending bones and healing scars. 

“Thanks,” he sighed, “but I think I’ll go rest for now. Call me if he wakes up though?” Something told him he  should be alert and around for when Kolivan would no doubt begin to interrogate him. 

* * *

All it had taken was one look at his communicator for Thace to drop everything and race madly to the med bay. 

_ Subject awake. We may be compromised.  _

That was all Ulaz’s message had said. Any further attempts to reach him had fallen on deaf ears. Thace could only assume the worst, that the human had attempted to kill Ulaz the second he’d laid eyes on him. Any member of an Altean court would. Their kind was supposed to have been exterminated millenia ago. How many more would the human kill as he made his move to escape from here? What about…

The vein in his neck pulsed as he turned the next corner to join Antok and his son, both sprinting with the same terrified urgence.  _ Keith _ . He’d be lying in a pool of his own blood before he let that killer touch his pup. He growled at him, and the smallest Galra fell in step behind him with a bashful tuck of his ears. At least Keith had the wits about him to still listen when things became serious. 

They nearly collided with Kolivan as they made the final turn, four huge bodies trying to squeeze their way through a door designed for only one and a half of them. He found himself wedged against Antok’s armpit, one of Keith’s arms squeezed between their sides as he stared at the scene in front of him. 

Ulaz was frozen in shock, eyes wide and glassy as they turned to look the party that had just arrived. The rest of his face was unable to move, squeezed between the human’s hands. 

The human, who was at this minute petting Ulaz’s temples with his thumbs, looking him up and down as if he’d witnessed a miracle. 

“You’re alive! But how… I don’t even see any scars. And I can’t be dreaming… I can…” the human paused to pinch his arm and Ulaz shot Thace the look of a taubaer trapped in the sticky-fingered grip of a newborn. “That hurts… this is real, oh my god, this is real…” The human was laughing now, tears welling up in his eyes. 

Kolivan cleared his throat. The human finally tore his eyes away from Ulaz. Thace didn’t miss the flash of recognition on his hairless face. 

“Kolivan? You’re here too? And… and is that Antok?” The smile on his face waivered. “And Thace. Wait… I thought… this isn’t possible.” His hands fell from around Ulaz’s neck, fingers scrabbling to reach beneath the layers of his space suit that remained. “Unless… unless you’re all dead… which makes me…”

The Galran leader made a herculean tug and squeezed his way through the doorframe, swinging one enormous clawed finger under the human’s chin menacingly. Their prisoner shut up immediately. 

“How do you know our names?”

The human was trapped in a loop looking between Kolivan’s talons and sneer of aggression. Thace yanked his way past Antok to watch how he licked his lips and continued to scan the room as if looking for answers. Or escape. 

“I… you told me? All of you, well, except Antok. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard him talk. Kolivan, what’s with you, what’s wrong?” The human’s eyes suddenly went wide and Thace followed his gaze. 

Keith. He was looking at Keith. His son, his small, wiry son, still growing into his limbs and adult coat, had ducked past Antok to stand at the foot of the exam table. He was looking at the human with the same confused bemusement the human had had just a second ago, ears flicking back and forth as he studied the man. He wasn’t even dressed in uniform, just his long shirt and pants. Defenceless. Thace growled as he stepped between him and his cub.

“This isn’t my universe… is it?” The human sank back into the table top, artificial hand weaving through his shock of white hair. “I… does Voltron exist in this universe? What about Zarkon? The Galra Empire?”

Kolivan lowered his claw. Thace was aware of Keith trying to peer around his waist, blocking him before he opened himself to a sudden attack. If Ulaz would put the  _ goddamn _ scalpels away he could relax a bit. But this reaction… it was unexpected. The human had shut down at the sight of his child, accepting his fate with little more than a grit of his teeth. He supposed humouring him with an answer or two could do little ill. 

“Zarkon has been dead for 10,000 years. There is no Empire to speak of, let alone the Galran race.” His jaw was set. 

“I… I’m sorry,” the human whispered. His downturned eyes focused on his robotic arm, clenching and flexing it, deep in thought. Thace thought he detected something in his face, maybe sad, or bittersweet.

“What happened?” 

Thace nearly jumped as the human looked up suddenly at him. 

“Why are there no more left? The Blades… you seem to still be okay.”

“We are nearly all that remains,” Thace said somberly. “Most of us were wiped out in the first wave by the First Empress. The rest were slowly hunted over millenia by the Alteans.”

“No… no that can’t be! They’d never… they’re peaceful!” The human’s arm was glowing now, a violent shade of bright purple as he clutched at the exam table. He could hear metal groan, see the slab warp in the stranger’s hand. Thace grabbed Keith. Kolivan drew his weapon. Antok lunged forward and tore the human’s hand from it’s hold, a chunk of the table flinging across the room and crashing into a tray of surgical instruments.

No one moved until the human was immobilized, wrists strung up in Antok’s enormous fists. His lips wobbled, voice stammering as he stared at them in disbelief.

“No… no… they couldn’t have… the Alteans I know would never want to wipe out a race, no matter how dangerous they might be! They’d talk to them! Only take down the worst! The ones pulling the strings!

“ _ No,” _ Thace hissed. He hugged Keith closer to his chest. “It is you who is wrong,  _ human _ . Empress Allura signed the Galra’s death sentence the moment she swore to avenge her father.”

“No…” the human said again, but softer. He could see the cracks forming in his belief. There were no more questions from him, no more confused looks at their family. He simply stared ahead into the void, mouth agape. He hardly blinked as Kolivan strode forward and grabbed his chin in his talons.

“Now,” Kolivan leaned forward until they were nearly nose to nose. “We have given you more than your deserved number of answers. It is time you return them. Who are you, and how did you appear where you did?”

That seemed to rouse him. The stranger sat up straighter, as at attention as he could be still trapped in Antok’s hold. “I… my name is Takashi Shi-” He paused. 

“Nevermind…” he mumbled. “Back in my universe I used to pilot the Black Lion of Voltron, until I wasn’t needed anymore. I… had a falling out with my group. In the end I asked my lion for help. The last thing I remember is her ejecting me into space… and then I was waking up here.”

Kolivan drew in a breath. His sharp gaze swung back at Thace. The two of them shared a nod. The human was hiding something from them, something large. Just what exactly would have to be extracted from him, one way or another. But extractions could wait. Their team leader turned back to the human. 

“Very well, Takashishi.”

“I-” the human started, but Kolivan cut him off.

“This is sufficient for now. You will be confined to a treatment room until you provide further information. I hope that next time I ask you a question you can answer with more than the vaguest of words.” He nodded at Ulaz, who stepped forward. “You will be restrained until you can prove you have no malintent towards any in this order.” Cuffs were slapped onto the human. 

“Y-you mean the Blades of Mamora? Will I have to go through the trials?”

Kolivan sneared. “When you are ready to talk further, Ulaz will inform us. Move out.”

Thace dutifully steered Keith out by the nape of his neck, rapidly followed by the other two Galra. As soon as they were out of earshot Kolivan laughed. 

“Blades of Mamora? He’s clearly had his information scrambled.”

* * *

Keith knew he really shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t have wandered back into Ulaz’s office to offer to help him clean up the mess and go through the data on the human’s bio scans (regular, aside from that radioactive signature). He shouldn’t have snuck onto Ulaz’s computer when the old softie offered to get them both cakes from the cafeteria and checked the security access to the human’s holding room. And he really shouldn’t have added himself to the authorized list.

While he was at it, he probably shouldn’t be sneaking back into the med bay beyond hours when the rest of the station slept. That was  _ definitely  _ groundable material. Still, Keith couldn’t help but grin as he snuck past Ulaz’s door and slipped into the observation room of the medbay. 

The human - Takeshishi or whatever his name was - was in room 5, the furthest from the entrance. Keith slunk down the hall on fingers and toes, ears poised to detect the faintest sound. Just the distant rumbles of Ulaz’s snores down the way. If he pressed his ear up against the exam room door he thought he could hear the human’s breathing as well. It was hard to say if he was asleep or not. Part of Keith hoped so. 

He unlocked the door. 

Nothing jumped out at him. No noise. The human must be asleep. He slipped in as fast as he could, quickly swinging it shut as quietly as possible. Keith watched until the little light for the lock returned to red, then turned to scan the room. 

The human was sitting straight up in his bed, staring at Keith. 

He hit the wall so fast the room may as well have jolted forwards at light speed. 

“ _ Shhhh. _ ” The human whipped a shackled finger up to his lips to shush Keith. They sat in silence, listening for noises down the hall, a sign that Ulaz was still asleep. 

Far away, Keith heard a snort from Ulaz. The usual drone of his snores resumed. He peeled himself off the wall, but remained close to it. Even if he was curious about the human, he wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t going to walk up to him, not with that weird hand of his.

“Why are you here?” whispered Takeshishi. 

Keith pouted. “Why are you awake?” he hissed back.

“Why are you?” Keith scrunched his nose at that. He hated it when people played the  _ why  _ game with him. 

“Because I’m here investigating you, if you couldn’t figure that out.”

It was the human’s turn to screw up his face. “I thought it would be Kolivan or Thace, not you.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“I-” the human snorted and smiled. “Nothing’s wrong with you. Man, even a whole universe over you’re still you Keith. You are Keith… right?”

He froze. Never once had anyone spoken his name aloud when the human was awake.

“How…” Keith breathed. 

“S-so it is you.  _ Keith… _ ” Takeshishi’s voice was heavy. “Oh my god… I thought it was just a coincidence. I knew you had Galra heritage but when I saw you I thought it was just someone who looked like you… like your mom, or some other relative. But it’s you.  _ It’s you _ .”

“How do you know me…” Keith crept closer to the bed. There was something prickling up his spine. Unease. Danger. He didn’t care. There was something in the human’s voice, in the way he said his name, it made him feel like he was safe in his hands. 

“I…” the human seemed to rethink things, pulling back into the pillows of his cot. “I don’t… I just think I do. The you here doesn’t know me. I’m sorry Keith.”

He frowned. That voice was not nothing. “ _ Takeshishi _ ,” he cautioned. 

The human bit back a laugh. “Oh man… I thought it was just Kolivan who had it wrong here.” At Keith’s confusion he continued. “That’s not my name - Takeshishi. I just kind of stuttered and it came out like that.”

“Then what is it?”

Not-Takeshishi looked sick. His hands fiddled with the fastenings of his cuffs, eyes avoiding Keith’s. Keith huffed. 

“You know my name and I didn’t even get to choose to tell you that. So what’s yours? Why won’t you tell me?” The human continued to avoid him, lips pressed so thin they turned almost as white as his scar. 

That was enough of that. Keith grabbed him by his flesh arm and yanked them face to face. “ _ Tell me!”  _ he hissed. 

The human’s eyes few wide and for the first time Keith really saw them. How they slanted up at the tips but still somehow maintained the same downturned shape of doogal pups. The many shades of black in them, flecks of fainter grey like stars trapped in the unbreakable black hole pull of his pupil. They sat there, tiny spots of space in a galaxies of cream, looking into his own sun-gold eyes with surprise, then calm, then sadness. He slid his wrists from Keith’s grip. 

“It’s complicated… I don’t even understand it myself.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “ _ Try me _ .”

“Oh… okay....” He licked his lips. “Well, I _was_ Takashi Shirogane - Shiro for short. I… I was a pilot from Earth. I flew space exploration missions and led a team to our solar system’s furthest moon. We got captured there. Back in my universe the Galra still exist, _Zarkon_ _still exists_. In a way I guess it’s kind of like the Alteans for you? I don’t know exactly. Anyway, I was a prisoner for a year. A lot of my memories from then are fuzzy, I can’t remember much more than having to fight for their entertainment and that they experimented on me.” 

“So that’s…” Keith said, touching Shiro’s newly clenched fist, “that’s why your arm is like this? And why it doesn’t look like anything we’ve ever seen?”

“Yeah,” Shiro sighed. “I don’t get how it works exactly, besides that quintessence is somehow involved.”

Quintessence. The very thing that had Kolivan and his father flattening their ears in concern at the very mention of it. “Do you… know what it is?”

“It’s not a thing here?”

Keith shook his head. “The older members of the pack know a little bit about it, but it’s pretty much been wiped from the history books by the Alteans. Whatever it is they don’t want people to remember it.”

“If that’s the case, should I even be telling you then?”

He gave Shiro a look. The human chuckled. God, it felt like he’d heard that laugh before, like something from a half-forgotten dream. He wanted to hear it again, as much as possible.

“Right… of course you wouldn’t give two damns if Kolivan or Thace wanted to keep you away from something. You’re here, aren’t you?” Shiro sat back up. “Okay. I don’t know a lot, but what I do know is that it’s an incredible source of energy, like raw power or something. It can be harvested and refined from the lifeforce of planets and fills the gaps between realities.” His jaw set. “It also seems to have an effect on people. That’s how… that’s how Zarkon and Haggar became who they were. It’s like it infected them. It’s what led him to start the war against King Alfor and continue to conquer the universe.”

“And that’s why the Alteans never want someone to find out about it again.” Keith felt heavy. He had to lean against the mattress. “Because all it would take is one more person being possessed by it and their entire empire could crumble. That’s why….” he bit his lip. That’s why they’d hunted down his mother and killed her. Because she was one of the final pieces of that fragment of memory. 

Something warm and weighty settled on top of his shaking hand. Shiro’s. 

“Keith, are you okay?”

“I’m… I’m fine,” he breathed. 

“No you’re not. I can tell.” Shiro folded Keith’s palm in his own, squeezing the soft purple fur until he looked at the human. He was smiling through his concern. “I get lying to me, but don’t lie to yourself. Repressing things gets you nowhere.”

Keith nodded slowly. His throat was seized into a ball of knots so tight it was hard to breath around it, let alone speak. But Shiro didn’t force him. He just continued to pet Keith’s hands, brushing back and forth with and against the grain of his fur, leaving small whorls in his wrist. “If you don’t want to talk about it, can I ask about you? Or this universe? Even if it is totally different than mine, it’s kind of amazing how much feels the same.”

“Oh… alright.” That was easier than talking about what the Alteans had taken from him. “I mean, it’s not very exciting. I’ve spent most of my life in Gamora bases, hidden away.”

“Gamora?” Shiro asked, brow wrinkled. “Not Mamora?”

“ _ Gamora _ , as in Guns of Gamora. A resistance of sorts.”

Shiro whistled. “Just like the Blades - er - the Blades of Mamora. That’s how I knew about the others. They were all members.”

“All of them?”

“Yeah, pretty much. I guess no matter the universe they like to fight for justice, no matter who the enemy might be. But it’s amazing that they’re all still here, especially with what Thace said… about the Galra being practically extinct.”

Keith stared down at where Shiro continued to hold his hand. “Small miracles I guess. Apparently there’s been small hidden colonies for centuries, just Galrans who want to live in peace and not be part of any war. That’s what dad always told me. Mom too, before she passed away.”

“I… I’m sorry Keith,” Shiro whispered. “I didn’t know you didn’t have your mom here as well.”

He shook his head, fighting back tears. “It’s okay… I mean, it’s not, she did nothing wrong, but I was really young. I didn’t realize what it really meant for years. It crushed dad though. Made it so that I barely ever left anywhere that wasn’t six layers deep of protected. Kolivan and the others made it a little better though. Antok’s been really good at training me and convincing him I can do more that just stay at the base and help Ulaz. He’s still too careful, but it’s getting better.”

“So that means your dad is Thace then.” Keith felt the air warm as Shiro leaned to close the gap between them, squinting at him in the dim light with his human eyes. “I can see it a little bit. The ears especially…”

Keith pulled them back as Shiro reached out to touch them. 

“S-sorry,” he stammered. “I should have asked.”

“S’fine,” mumbled Keith, and leaned forwards to press them against Shiro’s fingers. “He always joked I got his hair and her face.” Of course he kept it much longer than his father, and he was way above having the same muttonchop tufts Thace had. He’d thought about shaving his head like Ulaz once, had actually gotten the razor in hand before said Galra had tackled it from his hand. Right now it made him glad he hadn’t followed through with it. Shiro’s hands felt good in his hair, gently combing through the silky strands and cautiously petting the small white tuffs in the inside of his ears. He barely caught himself on the edge of purring before pulling back away. If Shiro was disappointed, he didn’t show it. It was like he’d done this before.

He could feel his heart quicken. “Y-you said you knew the others in your universe. What about me? You knew my name. You acted like you knew me. How? What… what was I like?”

“He… you were great. More than I could ask for in a friend, or a best friend even.” Shiro’s eyes grew wet, wistful as he smiled into space. “We met before I got captured. Trained together a lot, laughed together too, we did a lot of things the staff at the garrison would kill us for if they ever found out. He saved me when I crashed back to earth, took me back right from under their noses and brought me back to his house.” He chuckled. “For a second it felt like I’d barely left, but then stuff just kept changing. We ended up out in space, fighting Zarkon’s troops, trying to keep him from dominating the universe and capturing Voltron.”

“Vol… tron?” Keith asked. 

“I guess you don’t have it here?” Keith shook his head. Shiro sat back and winced, gripping his ribs. Probably the brushed bones there. Keith slipped off the bed and rustled through the cabinet in the corner of the room. Ulaz always left a few spare treatments right with his patients after all, and within a few drawers he found the numbing cream he was looking for and sat back to join Shiro. 

“Lift,” he grunted between the cap in his mouth. The human complied, hiking up his gown and revealing his purple spotted side. Keith began to spread the cream as he continued.

“Voltron’s this robot Allura’s father designed, or well, it’s more like five robots that can combine into one. Lion actually. They have minds of their own. They don’t like to work with just anyone either, they have to pick who they want to pilot them. Black ended up picking me, and Red picked the other you. For a while even Black let you fly her and lead the team.”

“What happened to you? Why couldn’t you pilot her?” He’d nearly covered all the marks now, and Shiro seemed to be breathing a bit easier for it. He could feel Shiro’s next chuckle as much as hear it.

“Well… I kind of disappeared again. I… I don’t remember a lot of it until I escaped and came back to everyone. K-you saved me again that time to. You saved me a lot actually…” he watched as Keith’s hand pulled back from his skin, holding his shirt up just a second too long before letting it fall back down. “I don’t know how I could ever start to repay him. Every time I thought I was gone he was right there, pulling me back.”

Keith stared at the spot where the bruises had disappeared. For everything he said, for how fondly he spoke of this other world, there was no denying the feelings behind his words. He knew, without Shiro ever speaking it, how much his other self had meant to him. 

“So why did you leave?”

“What?” It was a tone that was anything but someone simply caught off guard. Shiro knew the weight of the question, just as much as Keith did.

“You talk about it all like there’s no place you’d rather be. But you’re here.”

“That’s because,” Shiro said, but there was no intention in those words to finish. Keith’s tail flicked in irritation. 

“You told Kolivan you had a falling out. It _doesn’t sound_ _to me_ like you did, so what gives? What’s the truth?” He squinted at the human and Shiro shrank back into his bedding. “Who are you lying to? Kolivan, or me?”

Shiro pulled the blanket up above his face, but Keith was having none of it. He ripped the fabric from the human’s hands and leaned forward. 

“ _ Tell me _ , because I’m pretty sure I’ll be more forgiving than Kolivan when he finds out you’ve been lying.”

“I’m… I’m really not…”

“Then  _ what?”  _ Keith yelled, and Shiro’s eyes brimmed with tears. 

“B-because it wasn’t real.  _ I _ wasn’t real.”

Keith couldn’t tear his eyes away. Shiro’s face was streaming, tears cascading down his cheeks in great drops, unable to be blotted away by his still-cuffed hands. His palms pressed against his eyes, trying to stanch the flow to no avail. He could see every crystal bead on his lashes, every line in his face he hadn’t noticed before, of just how tired and worn down Shiro looked. Before he knew what he was doing he was wiping the tears back with him, fingers gently wicking at the corners of the human’s eyes until Shiro finally looked at him. 

“What do you mean,” he asked, “you’re here, aren’t you?”

Shiro nodded, breath held as if it might help him hold in the flow that was steadily trickling down his face. “But…. but I’m not Takashi Shirogane… I’m not…”

“But you said… what do you mean?”

The human squeezed his eyes together, trying to regain composure. “I… I’m not him. I’m just a copy, I’m not the real Shiro.”

“You’re… a copy?” Shiro nodded, lips thin. A clone…. Keith had heard word that that was possible, of the druids and scientists on Altea able to extract memories and recreate beings. He’d thought it was only fantasy, propaganda to play on the masses dreams. 

“I… Haggar must have made me… to take Voltron down from within. I had all his memories, no one suspected anything,  _ not even me _ . We didn’t even realize until we found him… the real me.”

“But you…”

Shiro shook his head. “I’d never… I’d never want to hurt them, but what if she made me? What if she tried to use me against them?” The tears were flowing again. 

“So you left?”

A silent bob was all Shiro could manage. “I asked Black what I could do… where I could go... where I wouldn’t hurt them… and then nothing… Nothing until I woke up here…” He choked back another sob. “I’m not who I thought I was… I might not even be human…”

Tears continued to silently streak down his face as Shiro pulled into himself. Even though they’d just met Keith hated this, seeing him like this. It felt wrong.

Shiro let out a squeak as Keith closed the gap between him, nuzzling the man’s forehead with his own. He rubbed his ears against Shiro’s temples, stroked the soft skin under his jaw. From deep down inside him he let out the rumbling hum of a purr, strong and reassuring against Shiro’s shallow breathing. Little by little he heard it calm, until he was sure Shiro’s tears had quelled. Only then did he open his eyes to gaze at him. He needed Shiro to look at him, see him. 

“But you’re here. You’re here for a reason. Your lion sent you here instead of someplace else.” He stroked the soft hairs between Shiro’s cheeks and ears. “Maybe it’s your chance to restart everything. To find your new place.”

The human’s lips parted, staring at Keith as if it were the first time. 

“You think?”

“Maybe,” he said, rubbing his cheek against Shiro’s like how his parents had always soothed him as a cub. “I had a feeling since the first time I saw you, when I found you. Like you were something I’d forgotten I was missing. Familiar…”

“When I saw you…” croaked Shiro, “I think I knew too. That it was you. I just told myself it wasn’t true.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re here. One of you for every one of me.” Keith pulled himself further up the bed. “If you weren’t supposed to be here I wouldn’t have found you.”

“Maybe…” Shiro whispered. There were the hints of a smile in the corners of his mouth. “Keith?”

“Yes?”

“Can you stay with me for a bit longer? Tell me about this universe?”

Keith smiled. He pulled his legs up onto the bed and scooted to lean against the pillows with Shiro. “Sure. Where do you want to start?”

“Is there still such as thing as mac and cheese here?”

* * *

Shiro woke to warmth wrapped around him, artificial daylight creeping brighter and brighter with each passing moment. He was comfortable, and aside from the dull ache in his side feeling better than he had in days. He peeled open the sleep in his eyes and took in his surroundings. 

Everything was faint compared to the person pressed against him.

Keith,  _ this Keith _ , nuzzled into the small of his neck, snoring softly into his collarbone, legs swung up and over Shiro’s lap to curl better into his chest. He really did have Thace’s colouring Shiro thought, that same deep purple mane and ears with streaks of white. The face was all Keith though, the gentler cut of his cheekbones and small mouth, albeit lilac now, with darker patches on his cheeks and nose tip. There was a tail too, he smiled, weaving the droopy extension through his fingers and feeling the fur tumble over his palms. Different, but still very much Keith, just like himself. 

Maybe he did come here for a reason. Even if he hadn’t chosen to, he’d be more than happy to settle into a new life here, where Haggar and Zarkon were nothing more than a distant memory to the galaxy. He tickled Keith’s ear and watched as the Galra’s eyes screwed up, tip flicking back and forth as he buried his face deeper into Shiro’s neck. 

Yeah, he wanted to settle here.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for Keith having a big BoM fam what can I say? They'll warm up to Shiro don't worry, he's already got a foot in a door with Ulaz and Antok for just making Keith happy (:


End file.
